I've read that there are enough moderate republicans and democrats to push the vote through BUT the Speaker won't allow it to come up to a vote and he has up to 30 odd days to stall with new proposals and legislation.

Boehner. I was going to point out how spell-check makes me snicker like a 13-year-old, but then I saw your spelling comes up with Beerbohm as a correction. (I take laughter where I can find it these days.)

"Boehner or Boner or whatever his name is", that's what I heard some journalist saying over the weekend.

I'm certainly no fan of Boehner, nor the Tea Party minority he seems to be representing. But us getting laughs out of his name is really no different than Tea Partiers getting laughs about Obama's name through inappropriate comparisons. Whether we agree or not, the Tea Party is still entitled to their views, and I'm sure a man like Boehner has a legitimate perspective of his constituency, that we simply disagree with.

I'm certainly no fan of Boehner, nor the Tea Party minority he seems to be representing. But us getting laughs out of his name is really no different than Tea Partiers getting laughs about Obama's name through inappropriate comparisons. Whether we agree or not, the Tea Party is still entitled to their views, and I'm sure a man like Boehner has a legitimate perspective of his constituency, that we simply disagree with.

It's not that I'm laughing at his name.. I can't get it right. It galls me. I have to pull up a report to make sure I get it right. I'm incapable of getting it right. It's a mental block. I get so angry when I see him on the news. I feel bad for that.

He's an opportunist little hack who is riding the Tea Party wave to hold the whole damn system hostage because he can. This is a power play, both in Congress and inside the party. I'd KILL to hear how the party structure is handling this. Not everyone can be happy with holding the country hostage. This sets a dangerous procedural precedent that the smarter folks in the party have to consider. Because sooner or later, the shoe will be on the other foot.

I wonder when some other high placed Republicans will wake up and tell that Boehner guy to get the fuck off and act and behave like an adult.

Just when you thought Putin was bad..

Putin is bad. (That, by the way, is my opinion.. sorry.. I don't like him. I suspect he's a massive plutocrat. But that is only my opinion. Sorry) That being said, I think that Boehner is the first step down the road to massive disruption of the way things are in the US Government works. This is the first step in changing the entire dynamic in the way the parties work together. Not that with folks like him, that 'bi-partisan' word is evil to him.

Well, China has broken the public silence and skipped right to the debt ceiling point, although I don't think they've said anything particularly surprising. This might also be linked to market declines recently (or simply timed to appear so), not sure.

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We ask that the United States earnestly takes steps to resolve in a timely way before 17 October the political [issues] around the debt ceiling and prevent a US debt default to ensure safety of Chinese investments in the United States and the global economic recovery. This is the United States' responsibility.”

Curiously, it also sounds like they are kind of hinting that their vote is for the White House to just take charge and issue orders... Though that might be simply a transference of "what would work in China" to the US situation on their part. Or, they might actually believe it makes more sense to support the side that is less invested in shrinking the pie.

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"The executive branch of the US government has to take decisive and credible steps to avoid a default on its Treasury bonds..."

Well, China has broken the public silence and skipped right to the debt ceiling point, although I don't think they've said anything particularly surprising. This might also be linked to market declines recently (or simply timed to appear so), not sure.

Curiously, it also sounds like they are kind of hinting that their vote is for the White House to just take charge and issue orders... Though that might be simply a transference of "what would work in China" to the US situation on their part. Or, they might actually believe it makes more sense to support the side that is less invested in shrinking the pie.

They're probably thinking "this is the approach that would work in China", Kylie.

To compound the attention, a meeting of the IMF and the World Bank will be taking place in Washington the coming weekend, with some initial meetings and preparations starting to happen from today. There's going to be a lot of raised eyebrows in those cordoned-off halls if things haven't begun moving towards some kind of solution for either the budget shutdown or the debt ceiling by Friday.

Well. It is OFFICIAL.. My job is being held hostage by the Tea Party Caucus. I have been asked to join four other aircraft maintenance instructors overseas to teach 'how to fix this lovely Lockheed aircraft.'

BUT, the DOD can't award the contract officially till the government shutdown ends. ASSUMING the insanity ends in the next week, I will then have 55 days to pack up and relocate.

Worrying about what China thinks of us is kind of low on my To Do list. Getting people back to work is much higher on my list. What happened to it being about jobs?

I'm no expert, but as I understand it if China unloads US treasury bonds, interest rates go up in the US. Which I assume would reduce consumer demand (and possibly some new business and government capital too - though they get off with relative rate breaks). And that would reduce overall sales and employment.

And again if China sells off bonds: It makes those bonds worth less on the market because a reduction in Chinese confidence is a "no" vote by their largest buyer. In that case, China is giving up estimated value on its investment too, betting instead that the long-term risk of holding them all is higher than the cost of reducing their immediate market value. To the extent China buys things from the US too and hosts international companies the US is interested in... This all hurts the Chinese economy somewhat immediately, so some US trade and jobs linked to that suffer as well.

SUPPOSEDLY something like 21 GOP house reps have vowed to vote for a CR now. IF all the democrats voted with them, that would be enough to pass. Now it remains the speaker who is holding the country hostage.

I'm no expert, but as I understand it if China unloads US treasury bonds, interest rates go up in the US. Which I assume would reduce consumer demand (and possibly some new business and government capital too - though they get off with relative rate breaks). And that would reduce overall sales and employment.

And again if China sells off bonds: It makes those bonds worth less on the market because a reduction in Chinese confidence is a "no" vote by their largest buyer. In that case, China is giving up estimated value on its investment too, betting instead that the long-term risk of holding them all is higher than the cost of reducing their immediate market value. To the extent China buys things from the US too and hosts international companies the US is interested in... This all hurts the Chinese economy somewhat immediately, so some US trade and jobs linked to that suffer as well.

This would also lower the value of US currency in relation to Chinese currency. This is not something China wants to do.